Memory Alpha:AOL chats/Ronald D. Moore/ron126.txt
Subject: Answers Date: Wed, Nov 18, 1998 14:49 EST From: RonDMoore Message-id: <19981118144955.05328.00002193@ng152.aol.com> <> I doubt we'll fill in all the blanks on Garak's backstory, and we don't believe that he and Dukat are brothers. (Lovers, maybe.) <> All of the above is possible. << Finally, has the writing staff begun working on the Section 31 follow up story?>> As a matter of fact, I just turned in the next Section 31 script last night. (The title isn't official yet.) <> Hadn't looked at it that way before, but I kinda like it. Around here, we tend to refer to the station as the Island of Misfit Toys. <> Not that I know of. <> Haven't heard anything along these lines either. To be clear, I know of no new Trek projects of any sort being talked about or considered here at Paramount. <> I believe that Data keeps the parts to Lore in his closet on the Enterprise and that he sometimes puts them back together to explore various aspects of the human experience that involve handcuffs and leather straps. Sela and Crosis were married in a quiet chapel ceremony on Risa and are now expecting a blonde Borg drone with a penchant for skullduggery. <> The caps were chosen by Avery and Cirroc and I presume that they represent their favorite teams. <> We were quite intrigued by the notion of using Mirror Spock, but it never worked out for various reasons. <. It's still up in the air, but the fact that we continue to do stories without such a pairing proves that she's an interesting character whether or not we involve her in a romance. <> I'm not sure what this response was intended to mean or even which "Ds9 exec" would've made it. We do have big plans for the end of the show, but I don't know why any further DS9 project would "have" to take place in the past. << Mr. Moore, I was curious about two subjects, the first you may have answered. That being, is anybody talking about Q popping into an episode before the season ends? It would be very interesting to see the Continuum's relationship to the Prophets and their enemies (the name escapes me). Also, is anybody tossing around ideas for a Federation/Romulan war in the next movie or two? "In the Pale Moonlight" has certainly established motive for the Romulans. Thanks for your time and for being so frank with the fans during your chats. I'm a big fan.>> We have no plans to see Q this year and I know for a fact that there is no discussion currently underway about the next Trek movie. <> My plans are still up in the air. I like TV, I like the pace, the work, the cameradie among the staff. I think I'll stop the Q&A once DS9 goes off the air, but I'll let you know what my future plans are when I know myself. <> Not really since we saw Dax piloting the Defiant time and again. <> There is a chance, because we've talked about working them into the final episodes, but at the moment they are not in our plans. <> Yes. <> Garak's next appearance will be in "The Emperor's New Cloak." <> This one features Nog and Vic Fontaine and it follows up on some of the events of "The Siege of AR-558." So far, it's the one I enjoyed working on the most this season. <> No plans to see Ziyal again. <> She's already in a sizable pair of boots. <<"Take Me Out to the Holosuite" -- Had Jadzia remained on the station, what position would you have given her? ;)>> Beer vendor? (Oh, relax. It's a joke, I love Terry.) <> EOTW is the plan. <> This is under active discussion right now. We've tossed around various follow-ups, but we're not sure if they fit into the overall plan at the moment. <> Same answer as above. <> He'll just let her see the pictures. <> Dukat's a very important character and we're careful about using him too much. We didn't have a good story for him until # 9, so we didn't show him until then. <> All of this is untrue. <> I don't think we'll see Keevan again. <> I know that this was a last-minute change that went back and forth, but to be honest I don't know who was arguing for what. I was looking forward to vacation at that point and everything about the final episode was in the hands of Ira and Hans. <> I'm happy with it. A couple of rough spots, but I think the season is developing into a good solid year that will only get better and better. <> That is a very long list. I can't say that I'm 100% happy with anything I've ever worked on. Some shows have fulfilled my expectations or even surpassed them, but even then I can always find dialog that rings false or a scene that could've been better or something. << which is better-- early, mid, or late Beatles?>> They're all wonderful and watching "The Beatles Anthology" only reinforces that view. < I guess I'm just frustrated seeing time wasted. I believe every second of every show should be spent logically tying up loose ends. I don't care if the episodes need an A, B, C, and D story to do this. Too much plot is not a problem for me; too little is. If TPTB don't bring all the important storylines of DS9 to some kind of a conclusion, I'll be disappointed. They still have time to do so. But the clock is ticking.>> I don't recall promising to wrap up every single plot thread by the end of the show. Fundamentally, we tell stories that we find interesting for one reason or another. That's no different this year than any other year. We do have a plan for the end of the series and the episodes leading up to it. Indeed, we've already laid some of the groundwork in the first dozen shows. However, our blueprint for the final year is, and was always designed to be, flexible. We want room to add new shows as we think of them, or to change directions if it seems like a good idea. I happen to think that a show like "Take Me Out to the Holosuite" is definitely a final season episode since it deals with a plot thread (Sisko's baseball obsession) that's been there since the pilot. We also believe that the show should be fun as well as "meaty" and that our task is not to tie up every single plotline, but to provide an entertaining and thought-provoking final year that brings the series to a rousing conclusion. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride. <> We'll start filming the two-hour finale in late March/early April. No decision has been made about using Terry or not. <> By the way, we didn't want Terry to leave in the first place but once she did we decided in was in the best interests of the show to kill off her character. And none of us consider that decision to be in error. <> Probably. We never gave a name to Odo's source back in "Improbable Cause" but we figured this was probably the same guy. <> Yes, but I can't discuss all the enhancements made to Weyoun 7.0 on a family-oriented board like this. <> We never planned to show him being killed. <> I haven't seen it and I'll probably wait for it to come to DTV. <> We have a different situation. We don't have to deal with a network of any kind and Paramount for the most part leaves us alone. It's a great way to run a series and I wish that the rest of the business was more like this. << Is the wormhole open to any traffic at this point?>> No. <> You'll have to wait for any information on this subject. <> Stronger continuity was forced on DS9 by the series concept itself. Since we're on a station that doesn't go anywhere, the plotlines have a tendency to stick around and it's hard to pretend that last week's episode didn't happen. On TNG, the Enterprise did a story, then just moved on and there was virtually no need to follow up on any particular plotline unless they were character-oriented plots like Worf's discommendation for instance. I like the continuity of the series and if I had my druthers, I'd have made the entire show a serial. <> I don't think Michael will be writing one for us, but there's a good chance Peter will. <> The task of physically writing the words fell to our set dressers. I believe that the final two or three paragraphs were written by Hans, who then gave them to the crew, but that the rest of the words on the walls were actually lifted from the 5-9 page story outlines for other episodes of DS9. <> It was, in fact, a diplomatic feeler about bringing the Ferengi Alliance into the war. This subject may come up again, but I don't think the Ferengis are interested. <> Maybe and No. <> We don't consider it canon, but it's kinda cool to throw in the odd reference here and there. <> Kor mentions the "Klothos" as being his ship during the battle of Caleb V. The Klothos was Kor's ship in the TAS episode "Time Trap." <> You never know... <> No. <> Thanks for the kind words. I didn't set out to deliberately refute anything in "The Final Reflection." To be honest, although the book did influence some of my early thoughts on the Klingons, I haven't read it in at least fifteen years or so and I don't really remember all the nuances of Ford's take on the Klingons. We have no explanation for the smooth-head/bumpy-head transition and nothing in the show should be taken as addressing that point. > The Klingons can't be too suicidal. They're fighting a long and bitter war against a very strong opponent. They do have to husband their strength and their manpower to a certain extent. <> I wasn't here, but I know that "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" was definitely one of the influences on Garak's character. Ira in particular is a big fan of that British series. (In fact, when I first started on TNG, Ira and Hans took to calling me "Young Peter Guillam.") Moore, Ronald D.